Once Upon a Time
by IndigoGrapefruit
Summary: Kaoru tells Natsume a bedtime story... about two girls in a faraway school full of students with special powers called Alices. Set when Natsume was six and innocent.


**Indigo's Corner  
Hello peeps. Another oneshot. This one was inspired by the latest chapters of GA. I absolutely LOVE Kaoru! Natsume's mom rocks, don't you agree? =P**

**Disclaimer  
Nah, GA doesn't belong to me.**

**Additional Note  
Natsume's OOC? Well, he's six... er, well in any case, please don't harrass, kill, hit, scratch, kick, smack, bite, assault me with a needle, or harm me in any way, :). I tried to make him as "in character" as I could.**

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**Once Upon A Time...**

Mother came home today.

It was definitely her, those intense red eyes almost identical to Aoi's and mine, and that straight, ebony black hair blowing gently in the wind. She was wearing a heavy winter coat and boots despite it being autumn. She gave me a warm smile and stepped into the house to take shelter from the chilly breeze. I stepped aside to make room for her.

"I'm home, Natsume," she told me in an energetic voice. Funny. Usually she was dead tired when she came home, and that wasn't very often. She knelt down and gave me a kiss on the forehead, which I tried to dodge, but she got me anyway. I wasn't an enthusiast for affection. "So, have you been a good boy lately?"

I freed myself from her clutches and grunted.

She blinked and looked around. "Where's Aoi?"

"Aoi's sleeping," I replied, gesturing to the clock, which said 10:49 pm. "It's late. Mom, why are you coming home at this time of the day?" I asked that despite knowing that she always showed up at our house rather spontaneously.

* * *

It was quite a surprise for me actually, to see her at the doorway. She usually didn't come home. Dad told Aoi and I that it was because of work -he said she worked as a secret spy agent for this Alice Academy organization or something- but I knew better than that. There was no way mommy could be something like that. Still, I'd only see her two or three times each month.

I never knew where she went either. She always leaves early in the morning, before Aoi and I could wake up, so that we don't try and follow her. I did anyway. Dad caught me sneaking out the back door and scolded me.

"Your mother want you following her," he told me, "You'd only be a burden." Then he had this really sorrowful expression on his face that perplexed me. "Anyway, don't ever do that again, you hear me?" There was a hint of hysteria in his voice.

I turned away, crossed my arms and sulked. Whatever. He could just keep telling Aoi and I those lies about that Alice Academy whatever. One day, I'll find out what mommy's doing when she's away from us.

But it was the same every time. She would home on random days without warning. We always accepted her in with open arms. And every time her presence was in the house, it bothered me because I knew that was the only time I was sure of what she would doing. It felt like she was coming and going, like she could slip out of our grasp any time. Anxiety wasn't a pleasant feeling.

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She hung up her boots and took off her coat, hanging it on a hanger. Inside, she was wearing a black collared shirt and matching pants. She looked more like a business woman than a spy whatchamacallit that my dad claimed she was.

"It's good to be home again!" she exclaimed. "Speaking of which, where's your dad?"

"Dad's working overtime today, so he won't be home until 12."

Mom sighed in disappointment and slumped a little. "Aw man, I was hoping to surprise him too! Anyway, what are you doing up this time of the day? Six year olds like you should be in bed."

I was going to counter that by _demanding _to know why she was coming home at the exact same time, but I stopped myself because she would find another way around the subject. "Waiting for dad," I told her with a shrug. "And because Aoi told me that she was scared of robbers if we both slept."

She poked me in the shoulder and made a suspicious face. "Pssh, robbers, no such thing! So you were planning to stay up until midnight? That's bad for your health, mister. Now be a good boy and go to sleep." She ushered me to the staircase.

I sat down firmly on the first stair and stared straight into my mother's crimson eyes. "I'm not moving from this spot." I saw a vein pop in her head and smiled inwardly to myself. She knew that it was no use trying to get me to budge. I was just as stubborn as she was, if not more. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if coming up with a plan. I crossed my arms and tapped my index finger, waiting patiently.

She sat beside me and tilted her head so that she was looking straight into my face. "Why not?"

I furrowed my brow, unsure of how to word it. If I told her that I wanted her to stay, I would sound weak. And I didn't want to sound weak in front of her of all people. She expected me to be strong, to support Aoi who was more fragile. "If I go to sleep, by the time I wake up, you'll be gone," I slowly said, my voice cracking near the end. "And you never tell us where you're going, even though I ask you over and over. It feels like..." I took a deep breath. "It feels like you're going to disappear any moment without us knowing it."

She chuckled at my response. "So that's it. You feel like I'm going to fade out of your life? I'll never do that!" Before I could duck out of the way, she embraced me in a huge hug. "Natsume, you, Aoi, and your father mean the world to me. I wouldn't ever go off to leave you behind. When I'm away from you guys, I think of you every day."

"Honest?"

"Honest."

I peeled her arms off of me. "Then why won't you ever tell us about where you go or what you do?"

"I'm sorry." She looked sad. "I can't. What I do in the time I spend away from you guys is top secret. I'm not allowed to tell anyone. You and Aoi are just going to have to trust me. But I always try my hardest at my job so I'd get rewarded more days off to spend time with you."

"You always say that, but I know that tomorrow, when I wake up, you won't be in the house anymore."

"I won't," she admitted. "That's why the time I always treasure the time I spend with you three, because I never know when I seldom ever get to see you guys."

"Then, I won't go to sleep," I announced firmly.

"Come on, Natsume," she urged, "Be a good boy for your mom. It's already eleven, and it's a school day tomorrow. You're not going to be able to wake up."

"Hn."

Finally, she stood up and offered, "Would it help, then, if I told you a bedtime story?"

Curiosity got the best of me. "A bedtime story?"

She pulled me up and urged me up the stairs to my bedroom. "It's one that I'm sure you've never heard of before, but you got to brush your teeth first." I was reluctant to go into the bathroom. She assured me, "Don't worry, I won't go anywhere."

I brushed my teeth hurriedly, anxious to get back into my bedroom where I could see her and be sure that she was there. When I was done, I quickly rinsed my cup and toothbrush and almost burst out the door. Relief spread over me when I saw her sitting on a chair beside my bed.

I climbed into it and pulled the blanket over my body, then looked at her, waiting for her to start. "What's the story about?"

"Well," she told me. "Let's find out, shall we?" She closed her eyes and reopened them, as if she was recalling a distinct memory. Then, she took a breath and started the story.

"Once upon a time, there were two girls. But they weren't just ordinary girls. They had special powers called 'Alices'. They attended a private school full of these 'Alices' offered by the government. In the school, there were normal classes, and there were classes that were specially made to enrich those magical powers. People named this school 'Alice Academy'."

I blinked and intervened, "Dad told me that you worked for an organization called Alice Academy. Is it the same one?"

She smiled and put a finger to her lips. "That's a secret! Alright, onward with the story!

"Those two girls were named Kaoru and Yuka. They were best friends, though Kaoru was a few years older than Yuka – you see, there weren't many people in Alice Academy so having friends that were younger or older than you was a common thing.

"You see, around the time that this story took place, Alice Academy was plagued with an evil being, also known as the elementary principle. You see, in order to become powerful, he took innocent Alices and made them do horrible deeds. When he discovered that Yuka had the Steal Alice, he did the same to her. For years, she was indulged in sin, all because of the horrible things that the elementary principle made her do.

"Kaoru, on the other hand, along with many others, knew what the elementary principle was up to and was trying to put a stop to it. She found out, with the help of some of some others who were also against the principle, that Yuka was being held captive and forced to do cruel things. So also, with their help, she brought Yuka to temporary safety, but they all knew that it wouldn't last forever..."

"This doesn't sound much like a fairy tale," I protested. "More like a story."

She chuckled. "Well, if it helps you more, I guess you could think of it as more of a story then," she told me.

"Are Kaoru and Yuka real people?" I asked, "Did they actually go to Alice Academy?"

She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. No one knows for sure. It's just a story after all.

"Anyway, inevitably, Kaoru eventually had to graduate from the academy and leave Yuka to fend for herself. At that time, Yuka was seventeen or so. She was less vulnerable than she was when she was younger, but she still could not fend for herself quite yet. On top of that, there were rumours circulating around the academy created by the elementary principle about her, so she didn't have a lot of people on her side. Still, Yuka was strong and stood up for herself for the most part. When things got slightly out of hand, her friends always had her back. That was how she survived for her junior year in high school, but in her senior year, something happened that took everyone by surprise."

"What?"

"Yuka got pregnant."

My eyes grew wide. "Pregnant? How old was she?"

"Just eighteen."

"But, but, how? And who was the father?"

"It was her teacher that she had fallen in love with, the one that first accepted her, the one that brought her out of the shadows that were created elementary principle. I suppose in a way, he was her light. And the most surprising thing was that he loved her back! I guess you could call that a miracle. They were very happy in her senior year. Pretty much the whole school knew that they had something together, and there were many that were disgusted by this, but they didn't care.

"And then, something tragic happened. The teacher was mysteriously murdered. No one knew who did it or how, but he was just alive and smiling one day, and dead the next. There was no evidence of a killer, thus people put it off as suicide, but Yuka never believed that. She knew that someone had killed her beloved teacher, and she suspected that the person behind all this was the same person that wished for her misery.

"Yuka made a brave confrontation with the elementary principle, who she hadn't seen in years. He was overconfident. He believed that she really did go back to him to do his dirty work once again. However, that wasn't the case. This time, she came back as an avenger. With her gift, her 'steal' Alice, she stopped him by putting him in a useless state – a child.

"But she knew that by doing this, she could no longer stay in the academy, for the elementary principle had subordinates that were after her. She planned to leave the academy as soon as she graduated.

"On one snowy day, when her child – a beautiful baby girl – was born, she left the academy cradling the baby in her arms, protecting it from the cold bite of the wind. Uncertain about where to go, she turned to Kaoru for help. Kaoru, of course, took her in and took care of both her and the baby. They decided together that the baby should not have to go back to the academy and face the dangers that Yuka did. They came to the conclusion that she should live a normal life, away from all the Alices and danger.

"After searching endlessly, they found someone who agreed to take her in – a lonely old man that lived in a small village far away from Tokyo and Alice Academy. They both believed that the girl was safe there. After that, Kaoru and Yuka went separate ways."

I yawned and I felt my eyelids droop, but I was determined to stay awake to hear the outcome of mother's story. "So what happened to them?"

She leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, then told me, "Well, Kaoru got married and raised a family, and Yuka, well, Yuka traveled and gathered information on the elementary principle, determined to defeat him once and for all."

"So then the elementary principle is still alive?"

She paused for a moment, contemplating whether she should say what she was going to say or not. "Yes..." she finally admitted. "But there are a lot of people working to stop him, so don't you worry. Now good night."

She reached for the lamp, but I grabbed for her sleeve and cried out, "Wait!" She turned. "Are you one of them, mother?"

But all she gave as a response was a grin. Her lips were sealed. "Good night, Natsume," she repeated and turned out the light. I heard my bedroom door open, and shut again, knowing that I wouldn't see her again for a long time.

"Good night, Kaoru mommy," I whispered, "Come home safely. I'll be waiting."

I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

That night, I dreamed of Yuka's little girl, alive and breathing, living somewhere distinct.

I wonder if I'll ever meet her.

_The End._

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**Ok, I know that the name thing, well Natsume should know his mom's name by age six, but in the manga, during the current arc, he didn't appear to recognize her despite their similar looks and the fact that her name was revealed to them, so I figured that maybe he never did know his mother's name. Well, in any case, let's just pretend that he's ignorant in this fic, =P.**

**Thanks for reading. Now, if only you'd click the green button here, I would be so grateful.**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


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